Neal Asher has been publishing short fiction and books in the small press in Britain for several years, and made a successful move to paperback in 2001 with Gridlinked . He got a sheaf of favorable notices. “This is a brilliant and audacious work, chock-full of cutting-edge ideas. . . . I look forward to [his next books] enormously and to seeing Asher receive the success he is clearly destined for. Highly recommended,” said SFRevu.com. Now Asher crosses the Atlantic and breaks into hardcover with Gridlinked , a science fiction adventure in the classic, fast-paced, action-packed tradition of Harry Harrison and Poul Anderson, with a dash of cyberpunk and a splash of Ian Fleming added to spice the mix. Cormac is a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future where "runcibles" (matter transmitters controlled by AIs) allow interstellar travel in an eye blink throughout the settled worlds of the Polity. Unfortunately Cormac is nearly burnt out, "gridlinked" to the AI net so long that his humanity has begun to drain away. He has to take the cold-turkey cure and shake his addiction to having his brain on the net. Now he must do without just as he’s sent to investigate the unique runcible disaster that's wiped out the entire human colony on planet Samarkand in a thirty-megaton explosion. With the runcible out, Cormac must get there by ship, but he has incurred the wrath of a vicious psychopath called Arian Pelter, who now follows him across the galaxy with a terrifying psychotic killer android in tow. And deep beneath Samarkand's surface there are buried mysteries, fiercely guarded. This is fast-moving, edge-of-the-seat entertainment -- an American debut that's sure to make a splash and launch Neal Asher in a big way. Praise for the British Edition: "Gritty. Now, there's a word you don't often hear in connection with science fiction -- more's the pity. If all novels could employ this atmosphere as well as Gridlinked does, I could wish that all authors followed Neal Asher's lead. Then again, this unique style is all Asher's; it's highly doubtful that a copy would be as deeply satisfying. . . .And he leaves you eager for more. . . . Is it too early in 2001 to be thinking of a top-ten list? Not with a novel this impressive."- SF site . “I couldn’t put it down. I even ended up reading it twice. Highly recommended.”—i “Neal Asher makes the move to the big league with Gridlinked . . . [a] fast-moving and enjoyable tale.”— Starburst magazine Praise for the British Edition: "Gritty. Now, there's a word you don't often hear in connection with science fiction -- more's the pity. If all novels could employ this atmosphere as well as Gridlinked does, I could wish that all authors followed Neal Asher's lead. Then again, this unique style is all Asher's; it's highly doubtful that a copy would be as deeply satisfying. . . .And he leaves you eager for more. . . . Is it too early in 2001 to be thinking of a top-ten list? Not with a novel this impressive."- SF site . “I couldn’t put it down. I even ended up reading it twice. Highly recommended.”—i “Neal Asher makes the move to the big league with Gridlinked . . . [a] fast-moving and enjoyable tale.”— Starburst magazine Gridlnked is Neal Asher’s first novel. He lives in Chelmsord, Essex, England. 1 Of course you can't understand it. You're used to thinking in a linear manner, that's evolution for you. Do you know what infinity and eternity are? That space is a curved sheet over nothing and that if you travel in a straight line for long enough you'll end up where you started? Even explained in its simplest terms it makes no sense: one dimension is line, two dimensions are area, three are space and four are space through time. Where we are. All these sit on top of the nullity, nil-space, or underspace as it has come to be called. There's no time there, no distance, nothing. From there all runcibles are in the same place and at the same time. Shove a human in and he doesn't cease to exist because there is no time for him to do so. Pull him out. Easy. How do the runcible AIs know when, who and where? The information is shoved in with the human. The AI doesn't have to know before because there is no time where the spoon is. Simple, isn't it …? From How It Is by Gordon Angelina Pelter gazed out across a seascape as colour-drained as a charcoal drawing and felt her purpose harden: this was her home, this was the place she must defend against the silicon autocrat Earth Central and all its agents. She looked up at the sky with its scud of oily clouds. It had the appearance of a soot-smeared sheet, pulled taut from the horizon. The sun was a hazy disc imbedded there. She lowered her gaze to where waves the colour of iron lapped against the plascrete slabs on the side of the sea wall. The day reflected her mood. 'Doesn't it get to you?' she asked him. He looked at her blankly. Probably searching his databank for a suitable res